


febuary, again

by EriSakimoto



Category: Naruto
Genre: Coma, F/M, Hyuuga Neji Lives, Neji lived and kishimoto can kiss my ass, but im still gonna angst abt it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:42:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29822352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EriSakimoto/pseuds/EriSakimoto
Summary: Neji hovers between life and death and frankly Tenten is getting a little sick of it.(oneshot from a "neji lives (or DOES he?) au. Named for and vaguely based on the song "Jessica" by regina spektor)
Relationships: Hyuuga Neji/Tenten
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	febuary, again

_ 8:32 AM, two weeks and one day after the end of the fourth great ninja war  _

  
  
  


Tenten took a deep breath, and pushed open the door. 

The hospital room was bright; someone had drawn the blinds, and early morning sunlight streamed in, glazing everything in a warm honey glow. Dust motes floated in the beams. In the window sill, a few nats circled the rotting remains of someone’s flowers. 

“Sorry I’m late.” Said Tenten. She moved in, taking her seat by the bedside and setting down her cup of coffee and half-eaten bagel. 

“It’s hard to find a good breakfast with the bakery gone and nearly every other place half destroyed.” She grumbled, and stretched her shoulder, popping the sore muscle back into place. “But you know how it is. They’re making good progress in town, so I shouldn’t complain. Anyway, how was your night?” 

There was no response. Tenten finally summoned the courage to look at Neji (which was dumb, he looked the same as always, but what if he didn’t?). He lay as still as always, propped against the pillows, arms at his sides. The early morning sunlight was shining directly in his face and eyes, lighting up the thin eyelids so she could see the pale blue veins beneath. She frowned,

“Well, I know that’s gotta piss you off.” She said, and went and adjusted the curtains so there was some shade. 

“There, that’s better.” She looked back at him, eagerly watching his face. She wasn’t sure what for; a twitch, maybe, a hint of some movement, anything, a relaxing of the muscles…

There was nothing. She forced herself to relax, returning to her seat. 

“Gai-sensei is getting out of the hospital soon.” She said, “Though he’ll still have to attend physical therapy and stuff. But you know how he is, he can’t stand being cooped up. He’s really such a baby about stuff like that.” Silence. She took a long sip of her coffee, still too hot, feeling it burn her throat the whole way down. 

“You know, he was in a coma too; not a very long one, but he was out for almost a whole week. We kept joking that maybe the two of you were talking that whole time. Like you were in some kind of ‘coma waiting room’.” She paused, waiting. Silence. 

“But, you know, when he woke up, he said he didn’t remember anything. It was just blankness and blind pain after he fought Madara, and then waking up. Like time travel.” 

Silence. Tenten realized she was clenching her hand, digging her nails into her palm, and stopped it. 

“So I guess there’s no such thing, huh? But you could tell me for sure.” 

Silence. It was deafening. Tenten looked at him, the angle of his nose and the fall of his hair against his brow, and was clutched by the near irresistible urge to move him, just slightly, just so she was looking at  _ something  _ other than what she had been for the past two weeks. But she resisted, taking another shaky sip of her coffee.

“You know, the nurses, and Sakura, they all said that me talking to you was supposed to help. That sometimes coma patients can hear the voices of their...friends...and that that’s supposed to, I don't know, call them out of it or something. But I’ve been talking to you every day for two weeks now, and I’m starting to think even  _ you  _ couldn’t keep up the silent treatment for this long.” 

Silence. 

“Maybe it’s just me, huh? Maybe I drive you crazy enough to wanna stay in there. So here’s the deal; wake up  _ right now _ , and I promise I’ll take a vow of silence for a whole week. K?” 

Silence. 

“A month?”

Silence. 

“A year?” 

Tenten heard a sound. Nurses footsteps, coming down the hall and disappearing, passing close by the door. Probably wondering if that crazy girl was in there talking to a coma patient again. 

“Look,” she said after they were gone, “It’s not just me OK? Gai-sensei and Lee have been to see you nearly everyday, and Naruto and Hinata and Hanabi and your uncle- yes, that’s right, they let him in even though I said it would probably only make you worse- they’ve all been here. So, just, you know, if you aren’t gonna wake up for me, then do it for one of them, all right?” 

Silence. Tenten felt like ripping her hair out. 

“I’m leaving for a mission tomorrow.” She said finally, “I have to. They desperately need people and everyone has a reason not to go. So I’m going. I’ll be gone for a week, maybe a little longer. Do you understand me, Neji? If you don’t wake up now, it’ll be a week before you have a chance to talk to me. And we really need to talk, because I have things to tell you, so…” 

She trailed off, gulping down the rest of her coffee in one fell swoop to distract herself from the silence. Outside the window, a pigeon fluttered down onto the sill and pecked absently at the flowers before realizing it was pecking at a wall of glass, and flying off again. 

“OK, fine.” She said, “Have it your way. But If you die on me while I’m gone,” she looked at him squarely, “I’ll kill you. I mean it.” 

Silence. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
